Bed or body support



Dec. 5, 1950 s. w.`scHENK|-:R

BED 0R BODY SUPPORT Filed July 51, 194e Dm E 353566335 R. M C m F. Vl N m E o@ m5 N r.. Dm m W O m a T U om M A AH 5 d@ w o@ xn D|J\ .NVQW @l lar body resting appliances.

Patented Dec. 5, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BED OR BODY SUPPORT Samuel W. Schenker, New York, N. Y.

Application July 31, 1946, Serial No. 687,286

2 Claims.

My invention relates generally to beds or Simi- More particularly my invention is directed to an improved construction for the body support portion of a bed, adap-ted to take the place of the usual bed spring. One of the objects of my invention is to provide a novel bed -construction of the class described in which the body supporting portion thereof shall be so constructed as to prevent sagging.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel bed construction of the :class described in which the body supporting portion there-of shall be so constructed and arranged that while it will yield in certain areas to curvatures of the body of the user, it will at the same time relatively rigidly and uniformly support all portions of the said body in accordance with the best therapeutic practices.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel bed construction of the class described in which the resilience of certain selected areas of the body supporting portion thereof may be altered'in accordance with the curvature of the spine to afford therapeutic relief for persons suffering from spinal or other bony ailments, especially backache due to the arthritides, spondylolisthesis, etc.

Other objects of my invention will hereinafter be pointed out or will become apparent in the following description thereof.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View, partly in crosssection, of a bed constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view thereof with a portion of the top blanket part broken away toreveal the construction and arrangement;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings I have shown a bed, constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention and comprising a pair of longitudinal rails IQ and Il and a pair of transverse members I4 and I5, the said members I4 and l5 being adapted to be used as head and foot boards of a bed, if desired. The rails I6, Il and i4, l5 may be interconnected in any satisfactory manner to form a rectangular hollow frame.

My novel body supporting portion of the bed will now be described.

In each of the rails l0, I provide a series of vertically disposed openings 2U (see Fig. 4), the said openings 20 being relatively I.closely spaced and extending along the length of said rails l0 and Il. It is noted that I prefer to have the openings 20 in the rail IIJ in alignment with corresponding openings 20 in the rail l l. Into each pair of corresponding openings 20 there is received the legs 25a of an inverted V-shaped member 25. Each member 25 is provided with a transverse portion 25h which is of relatively rigid material on the nature. of plastic, strong wood or any of the light strong metals, such as, for example aluminum. The transverse portion 25h and the legs 25a of the member 25 may be of one piece construction or the legs 25a may be independent members as shown in the drawings and attached in the following manner. The portion 25h may terminate at its opposite'ends in slight downwardly depending portions 25e having vertically disposed openings 30 extending upwardly from ythe bottom edge thereof and adapted to receive therein the reduced diameter portions 3| of the legs 25a. A shoulder 32 limits the distance that the said portions 3l are inserted into the openings 30. The legs 25a. may be held in attachment with the portion 25h by any suitable attaching means, such as, for example, a friction fit, as shown.

The leg portion 25a is of such size with respect to the opening 20 that it will freely, slidably move therein only in a vertical direction.

A portion 33 of the leg 25a, adiacent the bottom thereof, may be made of reduced size to accommodate a coil spring 35 surrounding the same. The upper end of the spring 35 is adapted to abut the shoulder 36 formed at the junction of the portions 25a and 33, while the lower end of the spring 35 is adapted to abut a suitable bottom Wall which. in the drawings, I have shown as a screw threaded plug 40, threadedly received in the bottom of the opening 23. An additional function and purpose of the plug 4t will hereinafter be pointed out.

It is thus seen from the above described construction that in use, a persons body will rest upon the transverse portions 25h with the result that, due to the springs 35 certain of the said rigid rod portions 25h will move downwardly more than others, in accordance with the contour of the body of the user and against the action of the said springs 35.

As clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawings all portions of the body of the user will have some SUPPOJC furnished by the members 25, and there will be no hollow areas, such as for example the hollow of the spine which are left unsupported to thus aggravate various forms of backache.

It is also noted that while the body is resiliently supported in a vertical direction, the rigidity of the portions 25h will prevent sagging and consequent distortion of the supporting efficiency of the bed.

The members 25 are preferably relatively closely spaced so as to reduce to a minimum the unsupported portions cf'the body.

It is also noted that the top surfaces of the portions 25h may be enlarged and rounded for the comfort of the user, vand that any suitable type of mattress M may be placed over the portions 25b for the further comfort of theV user.

Under normal conditions, all of the springs may be made of substantially the same compression strength. However, there may be certain' instances where the user may be suffering from v some form of back ailment and in which case it would be desirable to furnish greater or less support to certain selected areas of the body. In such cases, the plugs L36 may be rotated so as to compress the springs 35 or to ease the tension thereof, thus directly affecting the amount of support furnished by certain selected members 25. A set screw l5 maintains the plug L30 in its adjusted position.

In accordance with my invention I have provided the following means whereby, regardless of the variations in the strength of the springs 35, the transverse support members 251) will all be at a uniform level when the bed is not in use.

A pair of grooves E@ and 5i are provided in the surface of the leg members a, the said grooves extending downwardly from the shoulders 32 for a predeterminedl distance.- Threaded apertures Ell and 55 are provided in the inner and outer walls of the rail i9, the said apertures Se and 55 being in alignment with the grooves 50 and 5l. Into the apertures 5dand I place set screws Gil.

It is thus seen from the above description that regardless of the position of the plugs i0 or of the amount of compression of the springs 35, all A of the transverse portions 25h of the members 25 will be held at a uniform level when not in use by the action of the springs 35 in urging the legs 25a upwardly to their limit. Under these circumstances when the bed is made up during the I day it will have the customary appearance of the usual standard-type of bed.

While in the drawings I have described a bed construction in which the body supporting means is incorporated therein, it is understood that my invention also contemplates the construction of a bed spring member adapted to be used in connection with any standard type of bed.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the most general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Havingfdescribed my' invention., what I claim and desire tov secure by Lettersv Patent is:

1. In a bed construction of the class described, a pair of longitudinal side rails, a plurality of relatively rigid rods transversely disposed with respect to said rails, said rods being relatively closely spaced so as to alford support to substantially all areas of the body, means for independently resiliently supporting each of saidrods on said rails, means for adjusting the degree of tension of said independent resilient support means, said vlast-named independent resilient support means being characterized by the fact that certain selected rigid rods are supported with a lesser degree of tension than others and means whereby regardless or" the degree of resilience of said Yresilient supporting means, said rigid rods will all be at substantially uniform level when the bed is not in use.

2. In a bed construction of the class described, a pair` of longitudinal side'rails, a plurality of relatively rigid rods transversely disposed with respect to said rails, said rods being relatively closely spaced sov as to alford support-to substantially all areas of the body, means for independently resiliently supporting each of said rods on said side rails, said last named means comprising corresponding openings in said side rails, springs in said openings for resiliently supporting said transverse rods, means fork adjusting the tension of said springs, certain of said springs being under less tension than others in accordance with the therapeutic needs of the individual and means whereby regardless of the degree of tension of said springs, said rigid rods will all be at substantially uniform level when the bed is not in use.

SAMUEL W. SCI-IENKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

